ICL 20s World Series 2008
ICL India v ICL Pakistan at Hyderabad
India XI beat Pakistan XI by four wickets
Apr 12, 2008
The third match of the ICL 20s World Series featured the ICL India team taking on the formidable ICL Pakistani at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
A highly anticipated encounter was in store expecting to revive the great "Indo-Pak" cricket rivalry on the vibrant ICL platform.
In the end the Indians won a close encounter against their arch rivals by 4 wickets.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq won the toss and elected to bat. The Pakistanis opened with their flamboyant combination of Abdul Razzaq and Imran Nazir .
Some disciplined bowling from Murtaza and Kumaran in the final overs, assisted by some sharp fielding saw the Pakistani side restricted to 152/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply the Indians came out with the explosive Vignesh and Ibrahim Khaleel to open the innings.
The move was moderately successful till Vignesh went for a shot too many, falling to the experienced Razzaq, for an entertaining cameo of 18.
At the end of the fifth over the Indians were right on target at 43/1. A boundary down the third man by Khaleel brought on the Indian 50 in the sixth over.
The young wicketkeeper was making most of the opportunity, batting sensibly in company of the classy Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. Both the young batsmen were playing sensibly taking quick singles with the odd boundary and brought on the 50-run partnership off only 41 balls in the 10th over.
At the halfway mark of their innings the ICL India side was very well placed at 83/1, needing 70 more runs of 60 balls and nine wickets in hand.
It finally took the experienced Arshad Khan to break the lovely partnership as he dismissed Jhunjhunwala in the 11th over, for a well made 23.
Khaleel brought up his maiden fifty off only 39 balls in the 12th over. An unfortunate run out of the in-form TP Singh, backing too far at the non striker end brought the Pakistani side back into the game at the Indian score of 103/3 in the 13th over.
Some smart out-fielding from Razzaq brought an end to Khaleel's brilliant innings of 63 in the 15th over.
With five overs to go, the match was in India's control, needing 34 runs from 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand.
With two overs to go the Indians needed 16 runs with 5 wickets in hand. In the end some power hitting by captain Sathish helped the ICL Indians score a magnificent victory by 4 wickets.
Subscribe to Cricket News RSS/XML Feed
I really do not know exactly why the BCCI has shown scant interest in me.
